- Police Brutality Watch

Family members of an Atwater Village man who died after being taken into police custody filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday against the LAPD claiming wrongful death, negligence and battery. Jose Antonio Rodriguez, 35, died after being arrested Jan. 17 when police found him running half-naked and trying to jump into moving cars. Police say he was so crazed that they had to hobble him, yet still he thrashed around in the back of a police car. Members of the Latino community expressed outrage that this case was not brought to light sooner, considering two recent high profile beatings in South Los Angeles are being reviewed by citizen groups. LAPD Assistant Chief George Gascon said "There really was no reason for us to be reaching out to the community for intervention because we had no information that -- one, we had done anything wrong -- secondly, that we even had contributed to his death." [more]